"Buttonhole" surgery for gallbladder disease has been developed with laparoscopic cholecystectomy techniques for which commercial equipment is now available including several types of specialty surgical instruments. A line of instruments and equipment is available for endo cholecystectomy from SOLOS Endoscopy, Inc. of Norcross, Ga., for example. One such instrument, introduced by Karl A. Zucker, MD, of Maryland University for dissecting the cystic duct and ajacent artery from tissue in the vicinity of the gall bladder has become known as the "Maryland" dissector. This instrument essentially comprises alligator jawed forcep with a slightly curved end point.
This forcep is used by introduction into the abdominal cavity through a trocar sleeve for the explicit purpose of dissecting an exposed cystic duct and artery in the process of an endo cholecystectomy. The present invention provides a specialty instrument of this type with improved features facilitating surgical treatment of gallbladder disorders.
General types of surgical forceps are known in the art such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,113,246, F. C. Wappler, Apr. 5, 1938, wherein forcep jaws are manipulated by means of scissor type handles extending laterally from a tubular housing with an enclosed reciprocating actuating rod connected respectively with the scissor lever arms. Various linkages for operating the forcep jaws are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,471, S. Hayashi, Jun. 2, 1987. These jaws may be either spring biased or double acting to move freely in both opening and closing directions by means of surgeon's fingers in the scissor handles.
Since it is early in the development of endo cholecystectomy techniques the specialty instruments have been introduced in primitive form, and thus have deficiencies in actual practice under varying conditions encountered because of differences in patient anatomy, surgeon's skills, etc. Accordingly it is an objective of this invention to provide an improved surgical instrument of the foregoing "Maryland" dissector type that better suits the needs of the patient and surgeon. The improvements afforded by this instrument will be set forth throughout the following description, claims and accompanying drawings.